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Roster in Review - 2017

ABT Fan

By ABT Fan
in American Ballet Theatre

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Fleurfairy

Fleurfairy

Posted
Posted

With regard to Messmer, I get the feeling from reading various interviews of her, that she was not the easiest artist to work with either. She pretty quickly left SFB and had complaints about that company as well. Glad she's found her niche at MCB.

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Drew

Drew

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Messmer's interviews have seemed pretty candid. But she chose to leave ABT...she wasn't fired. Altogether, I'm sure group chemistry is important--but so is remarkable talent.  I'm hoping Messmer continues to thrive at MCB. 

 

Edited by Drew
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fondoffouettes

fondoffouettes

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It's been noted by others on here that Marshall Whiteley has been standing out as potential tall-ish, strong partner among the corps men. He looks quite good in the clip below (he's dancing the Black Swan pas de deux with Paulina Waski at SUNY Purchase). He previously danced the same pdd with Scout Forsythe, I believe also at SUNY Purchase. There are some additional clips on Forsythe's, Whiteley's and Waski's Instagram accounts, too. It's hard to judge from such short clips, but Whiteley really seems to have great potential (not to mention Waski and Forsythe!). 

 

It's interesting to read in his ABT bio that he started out as a hockey player. He certainly doesn't move like one anymore!

 

 

 

Edited by fondoffouettes
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fondoffouettes

fondoffouettes

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4 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Thanks for the Black Swan clip. He has a gorgeous upper body carriage and demeanor but his feet were a little sloppy, but it's a rehearsal video. He looks like a big, strong guy too. Hope they start utilizing him.

That's what immediately struck me too -- his arms seem to have a beautiful fluidity. 

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LadyBubbles

LadyBubbles

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The ABT roster website has been updated. A few things:

  • Kochetkova is still there. I guess she's not going anywhere anytime soon.
  • Luis Ribagorda is listed again as a corps dancer. Is he really coming back? Interesting. I hope so.
  • Of the remaining apprentices at the end of the MET season (aka those who were not promoted in May), Nastia Alexandrova is now in the corps, Gabrielle Perkins has left the company (she's joining a European company, I believe), and Xuelan Lu remains an apprentice.

So nice to see Lane's name among the principals. Finally.

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alexL

alexL

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Posted

Also, Sara Lane posted several videos of her practicing the grand pas in DonQ with her husband on Instagram and Instagram stories. I think she will be debuting in the role! (Her attitude turns in the video is quite impressive btw.)

 

I'm glad that she is finally learning the principal roles!!

 

You can also watch some short clips of Kitri variation and 32 fouettes in Sarah's Instagram Stories. I don't know how to upload those...

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Emma

Emma

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I'm rather confused about ABT's apprentice-corps promotions.  Nastia Alexandrova has been listed in the programs as a member of the corps since at least early June while the other Met Season apprentices were listed as apprentices (including Carlos Gonzalez, Kiely Groenewegen, Anabel Katsnelson, and Xuelan Lu).  Yet she was just moved on the website from apprentice to corps and the website now says she was promoted in August.

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LadyBubbles

LadyBubbles

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Ribagorda left ABT after Nutcracker 2014.

 

Wow, I didn't even notice that Salestein was gone from the roster. I thought the soloist page looked super empty, but I assumed it was because of the three ladies promoted. That's odd, ABT made no mention of him leaving the company (they mentioned all the corps members who, for various reasons, were leaving at the end of the MET season).

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fondoffouettes

fondoffouettes

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22 hours ago, LadyBubbles said:

Ribagorda left ABT after Nutcracker 2014.

 

Wow, I didn't even notice that Salestein was gone from the roster. I thought the soloist page looked super empty, but I assumed it was because of the three ladies promoted. That's odd, ABT made no mention of him leaving the company (they mentioned all the corps members who, for various reasons, were leaving at the end of the MET season).

 

I wonder if he's transitioning to a faculty role at ABT. On Instagram, I seem to recall him coaching the ABT corps members that recently appeared at SUNY Purchase. And he frequently leads company class too, right? (I'm not familiar with the conventions of who is asked to lead company class, so I'm not sure if this signifies anything.) It would have been nice to see his last performance acknowledged, though. I'm not sure what he danced in the last four weeks of the season, after Birbanto in Corsaire. Maybe some Neopolitan dances in Swan Lake and character roles?

 

Delighted to see Ribagorda back. His dancing was absolutely superb in his last couple seasons with ABT, and he excelled in the soloist roles that were thrown his way. This past season showed that ABT could really use some experienced corps members. They were looking pretty ragged at times, and I guess that's to be expected with so much churn.

 

In other news, Veronika Part seems to be recovering from her dismissal and is posting more positive messages:

 

 

Edited by fondoffouettes
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California

California

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13 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

I wonder if he's transitioning to a faculty role at ABT. On Instagram, I seem to recall him coaching the ABT corps members that recently appeared at SUNY Purchase. And he frequently leads company class too, right? (I'm not familiar with the conventions of who is asked to lead company class, so I'm not sure if this signifies anything.) It would have been nice to see his last performance acknowledged, though. I'm not sure what he danced in the last four weeks of the season, after Birbanto in Corsaire. Maybe some Neopolitan dances in Swan Lake and character roles?

 

 

Here's Salstein teaching last class at the Met season -- he had them finish with cartwheels. He does seem like he's quite experienced at teaching. (Note that Hallberg skips the cartwheel.) He also taught the company class on stage for Friends in June.

 

Edited by California
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vipa

vipa

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13 minutes ago, sandik said:

 

Thanks for this -- great fun!  And I love his port de bras going into the cartwheels.  Very sneaky.

Such fun. Really fun to see how many dancers were game. Some switched sides to do the cartwheel on the other side & who was the person with the aerial walkover? 

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California

California

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36 minutes ago, vipa said:

 who was the person with the aerial walkover? 

In the first act of Onegin at the Met, when a jumble of corps men as peasants come on with different tricks, there was one corps member who did the aerial walkover, but I could never identify him. When you read the detailed bios for a lot of these dancers, many seem to have some gymnastics in their background as children.

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Jayne

Jayne

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10 hours ago, California said:

 

Here's Salstein teaching last class at the Met season -- he had them finish with cartwheels. He does seem like he's quite experienced at teaching. (Note that Hallberg skips the cartwheel.) He also taught the company class on stage for Friends in June.

 

The music is "Carousel" and there are cartwheels in the Wheeldon version of this.  Really inventive stuff.  

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aurora

aurora

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16 hours ago, Fleurfairy said:

That's wonderful. I'm glad that ABT took him back, most times ballet companies don't give you another shot. 

 

Yes, and it isn't the first person who has left and returned to ABT (and I'm not talking about "stars" for whom you might expect a bit more flexibility if they left and then wanted to return).

 

Sean Stewart, a stalwart of the corps, originally joined in 1997, left in 2002 and returned in 2008.

 

 

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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

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I'm so happy to hear that Ribagorda is returning! He always caught my eye. It'll be interesting to see him back on stage after 2 years.

 

I'm surprised about Salstein. I loved his Hilarion which he debuted this past season. I will definitely miss him. He brought so much character and crispness to everything he did. I wonder what his plans are?

 

Separately, apparently ABT jumped the gun by moving the promoted dancers to their new ranks now instead of waiting till Sept 1 when their press release said they were to take effect. So nice to finally see Lane and Royal in the principal and soloist ranks, respectively.

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fondoffouettes

fondoffouettes

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1 hour ago, AB'sMom said:

ABT is now down to 3 female soloists. Do they ever promote from the corp mid season?

Rarely, but there are a few precedents:

 

Simon Messmer:  http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=289

 

Craig Salstein: http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=179

 

David Hallberg: http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=62

 

I think it's been more common for soloist-to-principal promotions to occur at random times of the year. Even though ABT is down to three female soloists, they have quite a few corps women that they can cast in soloist roles. They might not feel a need to recognize them with the title of soloist just yet, though. It seems more accepted for a corps member to get lots of soloist opportunities (without the title) than for a soloist to dance lots of principal roles and not be promoted.

Edited by fondoffouettes
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